First Property Not Renting

[Luis J.]

Hello BP community. I bought a new duplex (3b/2b, 872 sqft each side) in 76708 and hired a PM. It's been 4 months and no tenants! We've got well staged photos, lowered the rents to match market comps, and applied for section 8. The PM listed the property on Zillow, Realtor, Rents.com, Apartments.com, and Facebook. PM keep saying it's just been slow, we've had a few showings but no luck. PM says the tenants say the property is too small.

What else could we be doing? Switch PMs? Keep lowering rents? Other options to consider?

Much appreciated, thanks! 

[Travis Biziorek]

Luis, you answered your own question.

You said you've lowered the rent to market. But the market is telling you the place is too small.

So you cannot command market rents unless you're able to compensate for the size of the unit. You could do this by having nicer finishes. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

You could sacrifice something to get market rents... like tenant quality. But I wouldn't advise that.

This is a roundabout way of hopefully helping your realize that the answer, like in almost all cases, is the price.

Lower the price and you will find a desirable tenant. Even in the dead of winter. Even with a smaller unit.